Baseball Street

After his final two years playing outfield with the San Francisco Giants, current San Diego Padres bench coach Dave Roberts returned to his San Diego roots. (He graduated from Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista.)

Roberts could have afforded to live anywhere in San Diego County. But unlike several of his teammates who choose Fairbanks Ranch, La Jolla, or Rancho Santa Fe, Roberts chose Cardiff by the Sea.

Roberts seemed to have started a Major League Baseball trend when he bought his one-acre home site in 2005. Of his six-home street, just off Birmingham Drive, some locals now refer to it as “Baseball Street.”

One cannot help to notice the major remodel going on at another large home at the end of Roberts’s street. The Padres All-Star outfielder and second-highest-paid player on the roster, Carlos Quentin, reportedly purchased the home on the street’s cul-de-sac. The January 2014 purchase price was $3.6 million. A local realtor said, “He’s just doing a little customization.”

Across the street from Roberts’s home is the two-acre, five-bedroom home of Eric Goldschmidt, an MLB players’ agent. According to mlbfinances.com, he currently represents two MLB players with a combined salary of $7.2 million. In the past, he has represented big-league players such as Darryl Strawberry, Alex Gonzalez, and Melvin Mora, to name a few.

The home is now for sale, listed for $3.7 million, according to Coldwell Banker listing agent Kelly Howard. He held an open house on June 4, and anyone attending knew, based on the memorabilia, that it was the home of a baseball bigwig.

Howard also mentioned (and I confirmed with another neighbor) that a daughter of one of the Padres' owners lives in the smallest house on the street; that house sold in March 2013 for $1.9 million.

(rev. 6/16, 12:35 p.m.)